Linda et al, How did I miss this one? Interesting, particularly in view of the changes I'm making in my real estate business. In fact, I posted an article on one of my forums that pointed at the same conclusion for different reasons. Someone please tell me why I can't get this through my head? Is it because we are among the few who DO put price in the top five? We seldom rely on sales people, preferring to do our research online and then go get what we have selected based mostly on price vs. features with a healthy sprinkling of customer review in the analysis. That's for retail products. I'm more likely to go for the best available product I can afford, otherwise regardless of price, especially in a service. My husband is more likely to get something he considers serviceable and put price above everything else. I lay that on our respective experience as children with regard to financial security. So in theory I agree. Yet, when it comes to pricing my own services (i.e., real estate services), I usually underprice them and justify it on the basis of tough competition. Help! Cheri

Hi Cheri, You said: ============ "Yet, when it comes to pricing my own services (i.e., real estate services), I usually underprice them and justify it on the basis of tough competition. Help!" ============ My dear, bear in mind that last word - "help!" OK. My take on that... ... YOU underprice your services mosly because of what YOU think about your service and the way that others perceive it over and above what OTHERS really think about it. Could you try this? - send out a survey to the last twenty people that you have sold a home for. Ask them to be honest and rate your performance (1 to 10) across a range of key indicators eg value for money, timeliness, care and attention to detail, professionalism, courtesy, knowledge, price friendliness etc. Offer those who return your survey something like a bottle of premium wine or two tickets to the movies - even if they make negative remarks (essentially it is the negative remarks that you want - believe it or not!). That would certainly get responses. That way you would get feedback that would enable you to see where you shine and where you need to improve. This is just a suggestion Cheri. But if you like it I would be more than happy to help you construct it via email. I have read your comments about this price war several times now so let's sort it out for you - but only if YOU want to - LOL. Gary PS: Sorry if you think I am putting you on the spot. I'm not. I'm just trying to help.

Gary, Thanks, and you're right. Actually, I pretty much know what they'll say. They've all sent me referral business. People don't do that if you haven't given value. And now it would just be superfluous, because my new partners want the pricing to be standard, if not premium. So it will be. And I know I'm a better agent on virtually all those indicators than probably two thirds of my local colleagues. Not that I'll be doing transactions...I'm hiring agents and will probably be a non-competing broker. Maybe just handle my current clients and their referrals. Regarding my comments on the price war. I think maybe I've been trying to justify having priced myself almost out of business to begin with. It hasn't been a popular stance among my colleagues, and I've had to defend it. Now that it's time to let it go, I suppose I'm afraid of pop-machine syndrome in my clients. You know--you put a quarter in the machine and you get a pop, you expect to get one every time. If you put a quarter in the machine and don't get a pop, you kick the machine. If I'm the machine, that means I'm going to get kicked when I demand a half-dollar instead of a quarter. I can use all the logic in the world to convince myself that what I'm doing is right, just and even beneficial to my clients. Somehow it doesn't remove the nagging feeling that I'm betraying them somehow. If I'm honest with myself, I've got a self-esteem problem. Why the heck would I have that? That's my real question. And, taking honesty one step further, it doesn't really even matter why. I just need to fix it. Chalk up my earlier post, and for that matter this one, to a very tiring day. I'll take it from here. Cheri